Two Alleged Victims of Brand New’s Jesse Lacey Detail Years of Sexual Exploitation of Minors

On Friday, a public Facebook post began to circulate online, featuring comments accusing Brand New frontman Jesse Lacey of sexual abuse and solicitation of explicit photographs from a minor. In the wake of Lacey’s blanket apology for “the actions of [his] past,” two women have come forward to Pitchfork separately with similar accounts of sexual harassment, manipulative behavior, and child grooming on Lacey’s part.

Pitchfork also spoke with several people close to each woman, who confirmed that they had spoken about their experiences beginning in the early 2000s. One individual, who previously worked with Brand New, confirmed that both women had confided in them separately with their stories.

Child grooming is defined by the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children as “when an adult communicates online with a child under the age of 18 in order to establish an emotional connection or relationship with the child and gain their trust for the purposes of sexual abuse or exploitation.” Under federal law, child grooming falls under “coercion and enticement” of a minor—a felony offense. Possession of child pornography is also a felony offense.

Nicole Elizabeth Garey, 30, first shared her story on the since-deleted Facebook post last week. She met Lacey in 2003 when she was 15 years old, while photographing a Brand New show in upstate New York. After the gig, he gave her his email address. Lacey, then 24, began asking Garey to send him nude photos over instant messenger; she obliged.

Garey alleges that Lacey continually asked her for more nude photos. She recalls him saying, “I had to delete them, I can’t keep them on my computer.”

“You’re flattered because [the singer of] one of your favorite bands is interested in you and nobody’s taken interest in you before,” Garey tells Pitchfork. “I didn’t really see it for what it was because when you’re a teenager you think, ‘I know everything, I’m an adult.’”

The last time Garey says she had contact with Lacey was when she was 22 or 23; he Skyped her while masturbating. “I know I should’ve turned it off, but there’s something in me that couldn’t,” she says. “This will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Another woman, Emily Driskill, was 16 years old when she first met Lacey in 2002; she’s now 32. A concert photographer, music journalist, and Brand New fan, Driskill says she was given Lacey’s instant messenger screen name by a mutual friend. The first time they met in person was for an interview, during which Lacey stared at her chest and made “lots of comments about [her] body and breasts,” Driskill tells Pitchfork. “He was the first person to ever tell me that I was hot. In hindsight as an adult woman, I know I was preyed on.”

In an account similar to Garey’s story, Driskill says that Lacey solicited her for nude photos starting when she was 17. He allegedly sent photos of himself undressing, subjected Driskill to “countless masturbatory video chat sessions,” and “attempted to manipulate [her] into engaging in sexual situations with other people, on camera, for his viewing pleasure.”

Any time Driskill refused his demands, she says Lacey would threaten to restrict her access to the band. “There were a lot of instances where if I didn’t want to participate, or if I didn’t want to take my clothes off and take photos, he would say, ‘OK, well, I guess I won’t be seeing you the next time I come to Houston,’” Driskill says.

When Driskill was 18, she drove with her brother and friend from Houston to Austin to see Brand New perform at Emo’s. Lacey then took her to the green room of the venue under the pretense of getting his things, she says. He closed the door behind them, pushed her against the wall, and kissed and touched her in ways she didn’t want. “I was walking around with him to find his backpack, and then it went from zero to 60 when he closed the door,” she says. “He pinned me against the wall with his knee between my legs.” She describes the incident as one of “several instances of coercion during physically intimate situations” with Lacey. The two kept in touch, primarily online and occasionally in person, until Driskill was 23.

Both women describe the lingering effects of their interactions with Lacey: panic attacks, nightmares, and a distorted sense of intimacy. “When you’re groomed like that, you don’t know how to have a peaceful, loving, fulfilling relationship with anybody,” Driskill says. “Instead you think, ‘Oh, I have to get naked, I have to say dirty shit, I have to be at this person’s beck and call.’”

In a statement issued via Brand New’s Facebook account on Saturday, November 11, Lacey apologized for how he “hurt people, mistreated them, lied, and cheated” and cited a “dependent and addictive relationship with sex.” He did not acknowledge any specific allegations. Earlier today (November 13), Brand New canceled their remaining 2017 tour dates in Europe.

Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for the band for comment multiple times prior to the publishing of this story, to no response.

The band Martha was slated to open for Brand New in London and Glasgow, but dropped out of the shows over the weekend and tweeted, “Support survivors always.” Kevin Devine—a touring member of Brand New, signee of the band’s Procrastinate! Music Traitors label, and also a scheduled opener—backed out of the shows over the weekend as well, releasing a statement that read in part, “I believe that it is critically important to really listen to & hear people who speak out about abuse of power & sexual misconduct.”

“I’m hoping that with this coming out, it opens the door for people really looking out for women in our scene,” Driskill says. “It’s been talked about for a while but it hasn’t actually been happening.”